We Have hit the middle of the summer.
It's the end of July and the beginning of August.
It still feels like summer but also hints a change of season. I have been seeing "back to school" shopping ads. For most of the country, kids go back in August. College students head back the second week of August. We, In New England, do not. We have always returned to school after Labor Day. Even the colleges and universities in Boston start the new semester the first of September.
I don't really know why our school year is different from the rest of the country, but I think it was because of our tourism season. Our seasonal labor force, mostly school age kids, are needed until Labor Day, when it is then the unofficial end of the high tourist season of summer. This is just a theory, and a theory that does not hold up in 2023. Our season is no longer Memorial Day to Labor Day. The season, of high season, doesn't really slow down until Columbus Day in October.
So, as most of the country is at Old Navy, Staples and getting that "Back To School" haircut, we here in New England have another 5 weeks of summer vacation. There is still plenty of time to spend at the beach, biking, traveling, and eating ice cream. Cheers to the second half of summer!!